Awarded through the Crown Commercial Services framework, Balfour Beatty is converting a 225,000 sq ft warehouse into the new Rosalind Franklin Laboratory.
Adopting a modular approach to the construction process means that the lab in Leamington Spa has already begun operating this week while construction continues.
As Balfour Beatty adds another section, so testing capacity is ramped up.
On completion later this year, it should add hundreds of thousands of tests to the UK’s daily Covid-19 testing capacity.
Works include the construction of a series of laboratory lines within the facility as well as the associated welfare and waste management facilities. Balfour Beatty Kilpatrick is providing mechanical and electrical works.
The client’s team is led by Mace, with design consultants WSP and HOK and technical consultants Hoare Lea and GMP.
Balfour Beatty previously put together the in-house laboratory at the Manchester Engineering Campus Development and the temporary NHS Louisa Jordan Hospital in Glasgow.
Mark Bullock, chief executive of Balfour Beatty’s UK Construction Services business, said: “Once complete, the facility will be the largest of its type in the UK and one of the largest in Europe, representing a significant investment in the UK’s pandemic response infrastructure for the future and integral to tackling the Covid-19 pandemic in the immediate term.”
Contract value was not disclosed.
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
